Wizard World has issued a press release to announce the cancelation of five of their remaining seven 2017 conventions. They have also announced their 2018 locations which include the five cancelled cities.

Conventions in Biloxi, Montgomery, Peoria, Springfield, and Winston-Salem have all been cancelled. These five conventions were only recently announced and in smaller venues than Wizard World is normally held. These "postponed" events are planned to be held sometime in October or November 2018. Although Wizard World will refund tickets for the convention, this leaves some fans who were planning to fly in with non-refundable airline tickets.

In total, nine Wizard World conventions were announced and cancelled in 2017. This is more than any previous year. Twelve conventions have taken place this year with two remaining conventions for the rest of 2017.

Otakorp, the organization behind Otakon, has issued a warning about a "pirate housing website" that was created to trick people into signing up for invalid hotel reservations. The "otakon2017.org" web site, which has since been shut down, was not associated with Otakon, Otakorp Inc, or Otakon's exclusive hotel provider, Experient.

Otakorp is unable to determine if any reservations were taken through this site, if those reservations will be honored, or any information that may have been collected by the site.

If you have not received a reservation confirmation e-mail which looks like the official confirmation pictured below, Otakon urges you to contact Experient immediately at (800) 967-8852 or otakonhousing@experient-i nc.com. International residents may call +1-847-996-5832.

John Nadzam, Hotel and Venue Manager for Otakorp, said in a written statement, "We are very sorry this has happened, but we are glad we caught it. Our members are important to us, because we are also fans, cosplayers, artists and dreamers. Our mantra from day one has been 'by fans for fans' and we mean it. I know, I was there, and we could have never got here any other way."

Today, just over 6 months after the 8,000th convention was added, the FanCons.com convention database passed the 9,000 convention mark. The database began in October 2003 as part of AnimeCons.com, but expanded beyond anime conventions with the creation of FanCons.com in early 2012.

The 9,000th convention to be added was one of the longest running and most well-known conventions, Worldcon 76 which is scheduled to take place in August 2018 in San Jose, California. The first Worldcon took place in New York City in 1939.

Anime fans, of course, will likely associate this particular milestone with an infamous quote from the English dub of Dragon Ball Z. The line, "It's over nine thousand!" was in the episode "The Return of Goku" where it was spoken by Vegeta (originally performed by Brian Drummond, now performed by Christopher Sabat) has since become a meme. Appropriately enough, the 9,001st convention is an anime convention, No
Brand Con 2018, which will take place in May 2018 in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin.

Even as we quickly approach cataloging information on 10,000 conventions around the world going as far back as 1936, there are still many, many more conventions out there. Any convention organizers who don't see their conventions listed can submit them. After the submission is reviewed for accuracy, the information will be added.

We have just launched an AnimeCons.com sticker pack for iOS that can be used in Apple's Messages app as well as an Apple TV app for watching HD video content from AnimeCons TV.

AnimeCons.com launched in 2003 and in that time, our mascot, Connie, has gone through multiple iterations. The art has evolved from the original design created by Riki "Riddle" Lecotey and the chibi artwork by Sarah "Nami" Hevey used for the first four years of AnimeCons TV to the current artwork created by Svetlana Chmakova. We've released an iOS sticker pack featuring all of this artwork. Using Apple's Messages app (which you use when you send a text to anyone), you can tap a sticker and place it into the conversation or you can tap and hold a sticker to drag it up onto a previous message.

We've also launched an AnimeCons TV app for Apple TV. Launching as a podcast in 2009, AnimeCons TV has published over 250 episodes and 48 "extras" such as full costume contests and guest interviews. The show started publishing in HD at the start of its 5th season and the Apple TV app allows for easy viewing of any of those HD episodes from the last 4+ years as well as all of our "extras" content.

New episodes of AnimeCons TV are published every Monday at 3pm Eastern, Noon Pacific. They are available in the Apple TV app, on YouTube, and in our podcast feeds.

Both the iOS stickers and the Apple TV app are available as free downloads.

Midwest Media Expo, a fan convention near Detroit, announced last night that their 2017 event has been cancelled. The convention was scheduled to start on Friday.

The announcement posted to their web site and social media was as follows:

Morgan Kollin Said:

We are coming to you with a very heavy heart to inform you that, due to circumstances beyond our control, the 2017 Midwest Media Expo has been cancelled. For the past year we have been working hard to bring you a very special event, and it pains us greatly to have to make such an announcement, especially this close to our event date. We understand how much this event meant to everyone, and we apologize for this happening so suddenly. At this time, we are making arrangements to assist those displaced by this turn of events and those affected should expect we will be sending off notifications immediately to go over available alternatives.

We will be making further statements as we are able to discuss things, but know that we are working with good people to help us in this dark hour. Thank you very much for your understanding.

Morgan Kollin
Chairman of the Midwest Media Expo

According to responses on the convention's Facebook group, the prevailing rumor is that the cancellation is a result of the hotel asking for additional money. It's not unusual for a first-year convention to be caught off guard by a venue's payment schedule, but this isn't the first event for Midwest Media Expo. Youmacon is run by the same group and has been around for over a decade, so there should be plenty of staff members experienced in working with facilities and venue contracts. This would have been the second Midwest Media Expo held at this venue.

The convention has responded to Facebook comments indicating that they plan to offer pre-registered attendees a full refund on the cost of their badges.

""But when you go to them—in the conventions, it doesn’t matter who you are. Geek, not-geek, attractive, unattractive, none of it matters. It’s what you want to be. Nobody judges you over what you want to be. There’s little to no judgment. Where else in the world is there little or no judgment with how you want to be perceived, how you want to be? There are people wearing superhero outfits that maybe don’t have superhero bodies, and people accept them as superheroes. Now, how badass is that? For me, that’s beautiful.""